By His Vow: A Billionaire Arranged Marriage Romance
By His Vow: Chapter 67

Spending the day with Kingston and his family was…a lot.

I hated seeing him on edge. I’ve never known him not to be in control of a situation, but long before we even stepped foot inside that house, all he wanted to do was turn around and run.

His anxiety over spending the afternoon at his mom’s was palpable, and I hated it. All I wanted to do was make it better, and easier for him. But there wasn’t anything I could do. The bitterness he feels toward his mom has been festering for a long time. It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than a few words from me to make it go away. And there’s a chance it never will. The betrayal he feels might always be there. No one could blame him if it is.

Relationships between children and parents are complex. I know that just as much as he does. Sometimes, people can work through it. Other times, it’s just too big an obstacle to overcome. But the fact he still tries says a lot about him and the love he has for his family, especially his brothers.

As soon as we got back earlier, he changed and disappeared into his home gym.

I wanted to stop him, to demand he talk to me and try and get it off his chest, but I knew he needed more than that. So, I let him go do his thing while I poured myself a glass of wine and then ran a bath, needing to kick back before a new manic work week begins.

With the scent of my favorite bath salts filling the air and soft, relaxing music playing quietly on my cell on the counter, I think back over the past few weeks.

But no matter what, my thoughts always come back to Kingston today.

The look on his face, the hard set of his shoulders. All of it felt wrong.

But just like all the other things I’ve learned about him over the past few weeks, it helped me to feel closer to him. And that’s a problem.

I swear, with every day that passes, he’s becoming a bigger part of my life, a more important part. One I’m not sure I want to lose anytime soon.

I don’t realize that I drift off to sleep until a bang jolts me awake. My eyes fly open as my heart jumps into my throat the moment I discover a shadow looming over me.

“Oh my god,” I gasp, my heart beating out of control as Kingston drags his sweaty clothes from his body and moves closer. “What are you—” My words falter the second my eyes meet his.

They’re dark and haunted in a way I’ve never seen before. If I thought that hitting the gym would banish his demons, then I was wrong. Very, very wrong.

“What’s wrong?” I ask as he steps into the tub with me.

The water level immediately rises as he sinks down into the water, causing it to slosh over the edge.

“Nothing,” he lies. “Come here,” he demands before reaching for me and effortlessly lifting me onto his lap.

The second he has me where he wants me, he threads his fingers through the damp hair at the nape of my neck and drags my mouth to his.

His kiss is desperate and full of all the emotion I could see in his eyes.

I feel it all the way to my toes.

Wrapping my arms around his shoulders, I hold him as tight as I can, letting him know that I’m here, that it’s okay.

In only minutes, the heavy emotion gives way to desperation, his grip on my hip tightens, and he moves me, grinding my pussy over his length.

“Oh god,” I gasp into his mouth.

Without breaking our connection, I reach between us and line him up.

I don’t need any more foreplay than this. I’m ready for him.

“Tatum,” he moans into our kiss as he pushes inside me.

“Take what you need, King. I’m here. Use me.” The words make my chest ache because they’re so painfully true.

He thrusts, filling me in one move. I sit up a little to get a better angle and rest my forehead against his.

His stare burns into me, but I don’t open my eyes. I can’t. I’m scared.

Terrified of what I’ll replace staring back at me.

“Shit, baby. You’ve no idea how much I need this. How much you being there today meant to me.”

“It was nothing.”

“No,” he spits fiercely, shocking me enough to force my eyes open. “It was everything.”

I can barely inhale in my next breath at the emotion staring back at me. It hurts. I feel his pain as powerfully as he does, and all I want to do is take it away.

“Thank you,” he whispers, making me wonder if he has a lump in his throat that rivals mine.

I nod, letting him feel it as we move together beneath the water.

It’s slow, sensual, and entirely too much.

Tears prick the backs of my eyes and my nose itches. I fight it. I fight it as hard as I can as my heart threatens to freefall in my chest.

I shouldn’t be feeling this for this… this…beautifully broken man.

Yes, he’s all the things I always thought he was. Arrogant. Egotistical. An asshole. But there is so much more to him than that. So much that he doesn’t let the world see, and I’m becoming more and more addicted with every new discovery I make.

Silence falls between us, leaving just our heaving breaths and the sloshing of the bath water, but the air is heavy with all our unspoken words.

Words that we shouldn’t need to say, let alone feel.

“Tatum, I⁠—”

Lifting my hand from his shoulder, I press two fingers to his lips.

“Don’t,” I beg. “Actions, not words.”

I’m not sure if it’s relief or disappointment that fills his eyes, but it’s gone so quickly, I don’t stand a chance of attempting to decipher it.

“Need you,” he groans as his hips pick up pace, sending even more water crashing over the sides.

“Then take,” I offer. “Whatever you need.”

He stares up at me as if I’m something special, someone important, and I have no choice but to close my eyes and block it out.

It’s too much.

Just as I suspected, from the moment we walked into the Warner Group building together the next morning, we got swallowed up in the fear vibrating around every office about what the future of the company and everyone’s jobs holds.

Thankfully, I was able to lock myself in my office during the day and only had to deal with my team.

I’d already made it very clear to them the week before that despite me being first a Warner, and then a Callahan, I have absolutely no inside information about what was happening, or any sway about who would stay and go. Thankfully, they all respected me enough to leave it at that and focus on their jobs.

The atmosphere around the building was awful. I’ve always enjoyed my job and never, ever clock-watched, desperate for the day or the week to come to an end, but this week is different. But as much I as I want to leave the oppressive conditions of the office behind, going home brings me even more anxiety.

Visiting Kingston’s family this past weekend seemed to crack something inside him. He’s been different ever since.

From what I’ve heard through the grapevine at work, he’s the same ruthless asshole we all know and…endure as he and Miles have started putting their plan into place. But at home, he’s been even more attentive, gentle, caring.

Every night after work, I expect him to have shaken it off and returned to his usual ways, but every day he returns home that little bit more vulnerable and broken.

It’s as unnerving as it is mind-blowing that he immediately seeks me out, wraps me up in his arms, tucks his face into the crook of my neck and uses me as some kind of pillar of support.

The nights he’s been home late, I’ve taken it upon myself to make use of his kitchen and attempt to rustle us up some dinner. Some nights have been more successful than others. But no matter what time he’s been home or how awful his day has been, there is always one certainty. We always have sex, and every single night he passes out with his arms wrapped around me.

While I might be exhausted, I haven’t been replaceing sleep quite so easily. Instead, most nights I’ve been lying there until long past midnight with my mind spinning.

I wish I could stop, but with every day that passes, more questions about where all of this is going crop up.

Kingston hasn’t attempted to say whatever it is I felt like he was going to confess on Sunday night, and I’m relieved.

It might have been nothing, but the look in his eye and the pain that was oozing from him made me believe it was a hell of a lot more than nothing. And not just that, but something I am nowhere near prepared to hear.

The feelings floating around are enough, but words…

I shake my head, trying to clear my thought so I can replace some rest.

It’s Sunday night again, and another work week is looming.

Kingston has worked all weekend. He’s exhausted. His eyes are dark, the circles beneath them bruised and swollen.

Miles is the same, and it twists me up inside to know that he’s returning to an empty home at night. I wish I could be there for him too, but Kingston is monopolizing my time. I just have to hope that Miles is replaceing relief from it all somewhere.

I lie there for hours listening to his shallow breathing, relieved that he’s managed to get some rest, all the while it eludes me.

I’ve no idea what time I eventually drift off, but when Kingston’s alarm goes off the next morning, I’m nowhere near ready. Nor is he, if the groan he lets out before turning it off says anything.

No sooner has the noise vanished does his arm wrap back around me, holding me tightly.

“Can’t we just stay here for the day?” he asks, his voice rough with sleep and sexy as hell.

Despite my exhaustion, my body wakes up at the sound of it.

“If only,” I whisper. “Just think, we could have still been on our honeymoon right now.”

“Don’t,” he warns. “I promise, when we go, it’ll be fucking epic.”

“It better be,” I tease.

Silence falls between us and I begin to think that he’s drifted back off to sleep when my own alarm starts.

“Okay, okay,” he moans before finally releasing me and climbing out of bed.

I roll over and shamelessly watch as he stretches his arms above his head, making the muscles of his back and ass pull and stretch.

Delicious.

Suddenly, he turns around and instead of ass, I get an eyeful of his morning wood.

“Morning, Mr. Callahan,” I tease.

“Shower with me, Mrs. Callahan? Send me into the office happy and ready for the day?’

I want to refuse, but then I look up at his exhausted, hopeful eyes and I can’t.

He needs me, and I’m powerless but to agree.

Throwing the covers off, I stalk around the bed toward him. I’m wearing a tank and panties, but from the way he’s watching me with hunger darkening his eyes, you’d think I was already naked.

The second I’m within reaching distance, he pulls my tank up my body before his mouth descends on an already peaked nipple.

“Kingston,” I gasp as his hands skim over my waist and push my panties from my hips.

“You make all of this bearable, baby. I wouldn’t be able to do it without you right now.”

It’s bullshit. Men like Kingston don’t need a woman to help them get through. But I appreciate the words all the same.

Once I’m breathless from just his mouth on my breasts alone, he takes my hand and guides me into the bathroom before backing me up in the shower and wrapping my leg around his hip so he can push inside me.

He fucks me so thoroughly that I still feel it over an hour later as we walk into the Warner Group building hand in hand, just like we have done every day this week. And just like every other day, journalists line the streets, barking questions at both of us about the state of the company, if it’s true that we’re going into liquidation, and a million other incorrect assumptions about what’s happening here.

With every question, Kingston’s grip on my hand tightens.

“Jesus,” he groans as we step into the elevator alone.

“It’ll get better,” I promise, taking his rough jaw in my hands.

“I know. It’ll all be worth it in the end.”

Stretching up on my toes, I brush my lips against his as we climb toward my floor where we part for the day.

“You know where I am if you need me,” I say, holding his eyes.

“Is that your way of inviting me to fuck you in your office?” he asks, wiggling his brows at me.

I smirk at him before backing away the second the doors open.

“Be good. I’ll see you later, yeah?”

But before I can escape, he reaches out and pulls me back into his body.

He stares down at me in a way that makes my heart pound against my ribs.

“Have I told you how fucking incredible you are today?”

“Not with words, but your body did a good job earlier.”

“Fuck. Don’t send me up to your brother with a boner.”

“I’ll see you later, sir. Try not to make anyone cry today, please.”

This time when I step back, he lets me go. Although not before he makes a show of adjusting himself.

“We didn’t think he was going to let you out,” Josh says with a laugh as I pass his desk.

Glancing up, my cheeks heat when I discover that every one of my team is watching me.

“Twenty minutes,” I bark, refusing to acknowledge what they just witnessed.

“You got it, boss,” Josh says, saluting me like an idiot.

Marching into my office, I close the door behind me and rest my back against it.

My eyes are sore from lack of sleep and my muscles ache, but that doesn’t mean that desire isn’t pumping through my veins from the way Kingston looked at me just now.

I think it’s fair to say that he’s totally swept me into his web. But while I might be able to admit it to myself now, it doesn’t freak me out any less.

Shaking my head, I walk toward my desk and drop into my chair.

My watch buzzes and I pull my sleeve up to glance at the screen. When I do, my heart drops into my feet.

Has your period started?

Track your cycle now.

My hand trembles as I stare at the words.

“Fuck. When…”

Everything has been crazy, I’ve been so distracted but…

I open the page on this week before flicking back to the previous one.

And there it is.

The little red heart I draw on the day I’m expecting to get my period.

Five days ago.

Tears burn my eyes as I slump back in my chair, desperately trying to remember a time when I was five days late and that everything was okay.

But I can’t.

I’m never late.